Netflix has surprised subscribers by releasing an extended version of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight as a four-part series. The cut, titled The Hateful Eight: Extended Version, is presented as four chapters running 50, 51, 53 and 56 minutes respectively, giving a total of 210 minutes – 43 minutes longer than the 167-minute version previously available on the platform.
The original 2015 film had a limited 'roadshow' release in 70mm, featuring an overture and intermission, and ran 187 minutes. That version was never released on home video, leaving fans to piece together the differences. The new Netflix version does include a few moments absent from the standard cut, such as a scene with Demián Bichir's character plucking a chicken, which pays off in a later flashback.
However, the bulk of the extra running time is not new footage. By splitting the film into episodes, Netflix has added opening and closing credits for each chapter, plus a short recap of the previous episode's final scene. These credits and recaps account for roughly 27 minutes of the additional runtime.
As the streaming service automatically skips opening and closing credits unless viewers disable that function, many may not even notice the added segments. The result is that the 'extended' version offers little genuinely new material, leaving the film's fans to wonder whether the format change was more about presentation than content.
